Continuing complaints from water users about loss of pressure has prompted the Queenstown Lakes District Council [QLDC] to approve the use of a new model of water meter that cannot be clogged by lake snot.
In a report for the council’s infrastructure committee yesterday, asset planning manager Myles Lind requested the council’s water meter policy be updated to allow the use of a model without moving parts.
Meters now in use could be "blinded or blocked" by the algae, and the council had been receiving complaints since the policy was adopted nearly two years ago.
The algae, which is also known as lake snow, has been clogging water filters in homes and businesses in Wanaka for more than a decade.
Since its discovery in Lake Wakatipu last year, the algae has appeared in some residential filters in Queenstown and some hotels have been forced to install expensive self-cleaning filter systems.
